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According to the resolution [es] and the information released on the blog México por Florence Cassez, (Mexico for Florence Cassez) [es] the Frenchwoman has been in custody of Mexican authorities since December 9, 2005, after being arrested on the outskirts of the Federal District in the company of Israel Vallarte, her one-time boyfriend, whom the court identified as a “confessed criminal”.

Cassez was convicted in both parts of the criminal proceedings, and in February 2011 she was denied “the refuge and protection of the federal courts”, upholding the sentence. At that time, the judgment caused diplomatic tensions between Mexico and France, which were addressed by Global Voices in the post which may be accessed here.

In the days leading up to the Supreme Court (SCJN for its initials in Spanish) issuing its final decision, the issue sparked anticipation and divided opinions, since the resolution proposed Cassez’ “immediate and unconditional release”, after establishing that her fundamental rights were violated and that her arrest was staged.

Some Twitter users commented on the issue, [translator's note: all Twitter accounts are in Spanish] addressing the Supreme Court and its justices, in an attempt to be heard; as in the case of Alessia Corcuera (@top_roping_ale), who said:

I don't know if Florence Cassez is really guilty or not. I know how it goes with legal issues in this country, where if you have money, the law can be stretched as far as you can afford it. Here the laws are often handled and manipulated in terms of how much money the accused has to spend. It's that bad.On the other hand are the rights of victims who have been violated. Accordingly, the Supreme Court is in a logical dilemma: if it frees Cassez, it will be wrong. If not, it will be equally wrong.

In my opinion, tomorrow the Supreme Court will say that Cassez should be released. That will probably help Sarkozy in his reelection campaign, but also will reveal once again how the legal process works in Mexico. We already had a movie/documentary “Presumed Guilty”, where you can see the sui generis (unique) manner, to put it nicely, justice is served in our Mexico.

In this case Article 19 [es] denounced the alleged intimidation of information professionals because of their coverage of the Cassez case:

In this regard, ARTICLE 19 wishes to express its concern about the intimidation to which both local and international journalists have been subjected who have covered this issue the past few days. As of this moment, there are three known cases of journalists who have been victims of harassment, surveillance, interception of communications, and possible damage to equipment that could have affected their physical integrity.

The verdict

At about 2:15 p.m., on March 21, 2012, it was learned that per the justices’ votes, Cassez will not be granted “immediate and unconditional release”, at least not yet. The journalist Joaquín López-Dóriga (@lopezdoriga1) reported the following:

TODAY MEXICO IS IN MOURNING. THE SUPREME COURT JUST KILLED THE LAST HOPE OF JUSTICE IN A COUNTRY OPPRESSED BY IMPUNITY.

User Montserrat García (@montse_garcia23) questioned the fact that the due process violations were taken into account (since the existence of these do not necessarily imply the crime didn't take place):